I was told by the Doctor that part of my anxiety and depression is from drinking 2 cups of coffee in the mornings and a can of Soda in the evenings. I have cut back to a cup but can't seem to stop taking it. It is the only thing that makes me feel better from this horrible depression..

I was prescribed Cymbalta, but am frightened of taking it, because I don't want to lose my job, if I am getting nauseaus and sick every day from it. I know they say it takes 4-6 weeks...that seems so long. I can't afford right now to lose any time from work. There are potential layoffs and I fear I may lose my job if I take time off being sick from medication. I am increasing the SAM-e which I have been on for three years (which was okayed by the Doctor) to see if that will help, will give it a week, but then will probably have to go on the Cymbalta if increasing doesn't help, because I can't take feeling this way any more. I wept this afternoon..my chest felt so tight and I just felt so down and miserable. Have been restless and pacing around..feeling very distracted as well. This is the pitts.

I am fine when I am at work, but coming home from work, I have this sense of dread of coming home to an empty apartment and trying to find something to do on weekends..I just feel so lonely, I was never this way when SAM-e was working and I am back to the same way I was before I started taking it. I try to get out and walk..but I still feel down and plain old awful. Thanks for listening.

Hi Rianna, i am quite new to this forum as i have only recently been diagnosed as being depressed. I'll try not to bore you with my problems but i had a termination last year and over the past few months it has really hit home as to what my partner and i decided to do. Anyway- i just wanted to let you know that i do get really worked up and anxious- i started to have panic attacks on the tube and in public... and although so far i have refused any medication i do feel like in some ways i have started to be a lot calmer.

Dont mean to sound too cheesy when i say this but a couple of times i went to yoga and for days afterwards i didnt suffer from these attacks- i felt a lot calmer within myself as it helped me to channel my frustrations through breathing exercises..... anyway just thought that i'd mention it- i should really keep going but i have stopped due to work pressures... but another method i found very effective- albeit my partner forced me to attend was counsilling- this might sound quite primitive but have you thought about trying it? maybe you have already- sorry if i'm stating the obvious- i am just discovering all these things for the first time myself and sometimes they help- sometimes they dont- but i know how it feels like you get so overwhelmed that you feel like you head is going to explode....

Hi (kitten)- Thanks so much for the reply. I have tried self help books, counseling, cognitive behaviorial therapy, exercise, vitamins, breathing exercices..yet the depression remains. It has for 40 years. I finally found hope when I was on the SAM-e for three years and felt the best I ever felt. That is when I knew that I pretty much had a chemical imbalance. Exercise and therapy help, but it does not remove the depression. I just need to get myself together and get on the Cymbalta that the doctor prescribed for me. Thanks so much for your kind response.